Kane is a literary character created by Karl Edward Wagner

Karl Edward Wagner

Karl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...

 in a series of sword and sorcery

Sword and sorcery

Sword and sorcery is a sub-genre of fantasy and historical fantasy, generally characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent conflicts. An element of romance is often present, as is an element of magic and the supernatural...

 novels and short stories between 1970 and 1985. The stories are set in a grim, pre-medieval world which is nonetheless ancient and rich in history. In some of Wagner's later stories Kane appears in the present day  — for example, as a drug dealer in "Lacunae" and as a somewhat suspect publishing magnate in "At First Just Ghostly".

Little is known about Kane's origins. Like the Biblical Cain he is a powerful, left-handed man with red hair, said to have killed (strangled) his brother Abel, and has been cursed by a mad god with an eternal life of wandering. Nevertheless, he is vulnerable to wounds, and it is said that he can be killed "by the violence that he himself created", although his wounds heal at a rapid pace. Kane is portrayed as both an excellent warrior ("I kill things," he tells Elric in "The Gothic Touch". "It's what I was made to do. I'm rather good at it") and an accomplished sorcerer, who spends the millennia wandering from one adventure into the next. Also like the Biblical Cain, Kane is marked as a killer; those who meet the gaze of his icy blue eyes cannot maintain contact for long, for they give away Kane's true nature as a butcher of men. In "Misericorde" he declares to one of his foes that his father's name was Adam

Adam

Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...

 and his stepmother's name was Eve

Eve

Eve is the first woman created by God in the Book of Genesis.Eve may also refer to:-People:*Eve , a common given name and surname*Eve , American recording artist and actress-Places:...

, possibly making him the biological son of Adam's first wife Lilith

Lilith

Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...

.

He is often compared to Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the Barbarian is a fictional sword and sorcery hero that originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, several films , television programs, video games, roleplaying games and other media...

, but is quite different in that he is a devious character with a more somber and reflective outlook on life than Conan and none of the latter's dislike of sorcery. His creator described him as a character "who could master any situation intellectually, or rip heads off if push came to shove". Some commentators have argued that the fantasy protagonist that Kane has most in common with is Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock

Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, primarily of science fiction and fantasy, who has also published a number of literary novels....

's
Elric. Kane is unconcerned with common morality, since no human relationship can ever last more than a small fraction of his lifetime (although the daughter he fathered in "Raven's Eyrie" turns up as an adult in the modern-day "At First Just Ghostly"); and he frequently ends up on the wrong side in the conflicts in which he involves himself, often to his own detriment. A common theme running through all Kane stories is the hero's weariness with his own immortality and his attempts to give his existence meaning.

Novels

• Bloodstone (1975)
• Dark Crusade (1976)
• Darkness Weaves (1978) (editorially altered abridgement published in 1970 as "Darkness Weaves With Many Shades")

Story collections

• Death Angel's Shadow (1973)
  • "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul" - Kane meets an enemy who knows him
  • "Cold Light" - a knight's quest to kill Kane
  • "Mirage" - Kane discovers that death is not the answer to his problems
• Night Winds (1978)
  • "Undertow" - Kane's mistress attempts to escape from him
  • "Two Suns Setting" - Kane witnesses the death of the last of an elder race
  • "The Dark Muse" - Kane's poet friend takes inspiration from a journey to chaos
  • "Raven's Eyrie" - a previous victim attempts revenge
  • "Lynortis Reprise" - the survivors of a siege meet a betrayer
  • "Sing a Last Song of Valdese" - a wizard's revenge
• The Book of Kane (1985)
  • "Reflections for the Winter of My Soul", "Sing a Last Song of Valdese", "Raven's Eyrie" and:
  • "Misericorde" - a girl demands her lover prove himself
  • "The Other One" - the gods are sometimes merciful; Kane is less so

Other Tales

Kane also appears in "Lacunae", collected in Why Not You and I? (1987), and in "At First Just Ghostly", "Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse" and "The Gothic Touch", collected in Exorcisms and Ecstasies (1997). This volume also includes the fragment "In the Wake of the Night" and an early version of "Lynortis Reprise".

Reprint Collections

Night Shade Books

Night Shade Books

Night Shade Books is an independent publishing company based in San Francisco, specializing in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. It was started in 1997 by Jason Williams, with Jeremy Lassen coming on board as a partner shortly after the company's founding...

reprinted the complete novels and stories in two volumes, as follows:

• Gods in Darkness: The Complete Novels of Kane (2002)
  • Bloodstone
  • Dark Crusade
  • Darkness Weaves
• Midnight Sun: The Complete Stories of Kane (2003)
  • Death Angel's Shadow (Poem)
  • Undertow
  • Two Suns Setting
  • The Dark Muse
  • Sing a Last Song of Valdese
  • Misericorde
  • Lynortis Reprise
  • Raven's Eyrie
  • Reflections for the Winter of My Soul
  • Cold Light
  • Mirage
  • The Other One
  • The Gothic Touch
  • Midnight Sun (Poem)
  • Lacunae
  • Deep in the Depths of the Acme Warehouse
  • At First Just Ghostly
  • The Treasure of Lynortis (Early version of "Lynortis Reprise")
  • In the Wake of the Night (lost novel fragment)
  • The Once and Future Kane (Non-fiction essay)